1.3: It Pays Money

I love the fact that "you buy" is a statement rather than a request ;^) Interestingly, I have this conversation regularly with my wife (who is co-director in my company): I tell her about some fantastic software idea I have, she asks if there's a market for it, I say I was going to release it open source, and she asks me how I'm going to pay the rent. I'd love to have ethics, but I just can't afford them :(

...and the commentary has to be more accurate, as a good portion of the folks who work on Open Source do so under the pay of a company that uses it.

On the other hand, let's ask what's being made fun of here. The idealism? The kid's assumption that he'll take over the world? Or the fact that he chose to create economic output in the form of writing open source software?

And, let me ask: what's inherently wrong with someone who, having a lot of time on their hands, decides to write open source software? Some folks join the Peace Corps; others join groups such as habitat for humanity. Still others choose to write open source software. If it provides benefit to society in general, then that is economic output and may be valuable. Remember, the two guys in a garage that was RedHat in the mid 90's now has hundreds of millions in revenue every year.

It appears that you're assuming because someone works on open source, that person is a slacker. You know what happens when you ASS-U-ME, but in this case it's all on you.

I am very recepitive to feedback of any kind, but please send it to the appropriate place. As such, off-topic comments ("first!", "you suck!", "this rocks!", "why did my 'you suck!' comment get censored!?") will be deleted.

...and the commentary has to be more accurate, as a good portion of the folks who work on Open Source do so under the pay of a company that uses it.

On the other hand, let's ask what's being made fun of here. The idealism? The kid's assumption that he'll take over the world? Or the fact that he chose to create economic output in the form of writing open source software?

And, let me ask: what's inherently wrong with someone who, having a lot of time on their hands, decides to write open source software? Some folks join the Peace Corps; others join groups such as habitat for humanity. Still others choose to write open source software. If it provides benefit to society in general, then that is economic output and may be valuable. Remember, the two guys in a garage that was RedHat in the mid 90's now has hundreds of millions in revenue every year.

It appears that you're assuming because someone works on open source, that person is a slacker. You know what happens when you ASS-U-ME, but in this case it's all on you.

Cheers,
-J

It's called a joke. Linux/open source is great, but it's not the only way. And the joke is funny. Unless of course you're sensitive about the subject... :-X

On the other hand, let's ask what's being made fun of here. The idealism? The kid's assumption that he'll take over the world? Or the fact that he chose to create economic output in the form of writing open source software?

As others have pointed out, it's a joke. And it's an exaggerated caricature of the open source movement and the people who believe in it. But there is some truth to the notion that a lot of people who have a "Open Source Forever!" stance also have a "Death to Micro$oft!" stance and a "Windows is evil!" stance and can't understand why anyone in the world would ever use a piece of proprietary software, never see any flaws or faults at all in using FOSS, and have probably never worked in the business world in any serious capacity. There is a sort of unabashed idealism that comes along with a lot of the Open Source movement that simply does not work in the real world, nor is it compatible with companies that want to make a lot of money. Yes, Google makes lots of money using open source software. How many other companies do? How many of them are in the Fortune 500? How long has Linux had to make inroads?

Some of us want to change the world through open source software. The rest of us want to pay our mortgage.

I like the stereotyping here.
So whats next a strip on how all Latino's eat rice and beans while everyone of African decent love to eat fried chicken and BBQ all the time?

I don't see the humor in it basically your taking a large segment of the software development community stereotyping them as communist software developers who are all long haired stallman types and that no money can ever be made from an open source project. You do realize their are many open source developers out there making good money alot more then $42k a year.

But hey keep your head up if the strip don't work out here Microsoft might have an opening in their FUD department for you. :)

Come on, guys. It's clear today's comic is about pro-OSS teen fanboyism. Normal guy gets a job, fanboy sees that as treason, but still needs money from normal guy. It's simple 3-step humor that maybe could have been done better, but it's clear.

I also wouldn't worry about the art. It'll improve over time, as is usual in this kind of comic.

However, I'd ask Alex for a small change. I read TDWTF on my job between a task or two. Since the site is very "techie", even when it comes to screenshots, my doing so usually goes unnoticed by those around me. However a comic strip is instantly noticeable, and it does in fact drive them to ask me what I'm doing. Not nice!

So, if you'll keep adding the comics (and I hope you do), please do so in a way that isn't THAT evident when I open [url=http://thedailywtf.com]thedailywtf.com[url]. If possible, show it only when we actually open the corresponding article. This way, if I see there's a strip available, I can wait until my lunch to look at it.

...and the commentary has to be more accurate, as a good portion of the folks who work on Open Source do so under the pay of a company that uses it.

On the other hand, let's ask what's being made fun of here. The idealism? The kid's assumption that he'll take over the world? Or the fact that he chose to create economic output in the form of writing open source software?

And, let me ask: what's inherently wrong with someone who, having a lot of time on their hands, decides to write open source software? Some folks join the Peace Corps; others join groups such as habitat for humanity. Still others choose to write open source software. If it provides benefit to society in general, then that is economic output and may be valuable. Remember, the two guys in a garage that was RedHat in the mid 90's now has hundreds of millions in revenue every year.

It appears that you're assuming because someone works on open source, that person is a slacker. You know what happens when you ASS-U-ME, but in this case it's all on you.

Cheers,
-J

Shut up. It's a comic strip. Stop trying to find the ultimate meaning of life in it and take it for what it's worth.

And its ignorant comics like this that give the open source community a bad name in the eyes of the corporate world for no reason other then this person feels that only people who write code to make money off their code are professional and stand to make any money in the industry...

Christ, there's some miserable buggers posting. Do you talk to people face-to-face like that? Or are you just a coward, hiding behind a keyboard?

Personally, it's not my sort of thing and I'd be happier if there was a feed without it.

That being said, good luck and I appreciate your trying something new to entertain us.

No shit, man. Disliking content on the site is one thing, but to whine like an 8 year old that doesnt want to eat his brussels sprouts is uncalled for. You bastards don't pay the bills to keep the damn site up, so Alex has no obligation to you. You can piss off.

Now, personally, I can take or leave the comic; but you know what? I have these well developed ocular muscles that allow me to redirect my focus to another part of the screen, thus avoiding the comic should I want to. It takes little effort, and is surprisingly effective.

Furthermore, the joke is pretty funny. I am an open source developer that is gainfully employed, and I am not ignorant of the presence of greasy-haired smelly zealots living in their parents' basements blaming The Man for all their problems and believing that somehow in their social ineptness and poverty they will spend enough time not playing World of Warcraft to lead an open source revolution that will destroy Microsoft and bring peace and order to the galaxy with the mighty Linux Jedi as its protectorate. They are silly people, and coincidentally can't handle jokes about themselves.

I don't see the humor in it basically your taking a large segment of the software development community stereotyping them as communist software developers...

Well, and I know this will piss a lot of people off, isn't FOSS sorta communism anyway? The "fundamentalists" anyway. They view proprietary software as evil, they think software should be written "for the good of the people", and that the money should be made through more indirect means (like consulting), for more modest profits. Yes, this excludes a lot of the ones making FOSS software for a company and pulling in a paycheck but for the RMS hardcore types, doesn't it seem a lot like communism?

And I'm not saying this is a bad thing - communism has some good ideas and some bad ideas and it got demonized by people who saw it (rightly) as a threat to their ability to make a lot of money.

I've never actually met anybody like the open source coder in this comic strip. I know people who contribute to open source projects as a hobby, as part of a project for university, or simply to expand their resume and make themselves more employable.

I have a paid job in programming after having coded open source software in my spare time. It cost me nothing to gain the skills that landed me my job. I didn't pay for any expensive proprietary IDEs or servers. I didn't pay any corporations for "certifications" in their proprietary technologies.

But I certainly never used to sit around like a hippy promising an open source revolution and railing against "the man". I just think that anybody who believes there's no money to be had in open source (which seems, unfortunately, to include the author of this comic strip) is an idiot.

In conclusion, this comic isn't funny because it caricatures something that isn't even real.

Am I the only one who loves this? Maybe I'm the only one who likes getting paid for my time and knows people who are just like that? Funny stuff.

I like it. At least moderately, it's obviously not earth-shattering stuff..

Also, I can see that the drawing style could develop into something interesting, so just keep it up. And make sure to have good jokes, keep a stockpile to draw from, subtle insides jokes will be much appreciated here as well, methinks.

Ignore the morons here whining about a new feature they didn't pay for.

Here, let me explain the joke to those of you who failed basic reading comprehension:

He's poking fun at people who reject getting paid for doing software development and exclaim that it's immoral to work on anything but Linux and open-source software. I've met these people, they exist, and they deserve to be made fun of.

The strip was not making fun of open-source professionals or open-source software. Learn to read.

ehm... I work on a few open source project and have a day job which helps me pay the bills, like most of OSS programmers I think. So I don't think this is either funny or true. Back to the stereotypes of OSS people being computer nerds with stupid ambitions of world renown.

If you want me, I can translate you some very funny and UberGeek web comic called "Raulito El Friki" or "Tira Ecol":
http://www.tiraecol.net/modules/comic/comic.php?content_id=273&mode=flat&order=0

This one goes like this:
Bilo: shit! The elevator got stuck! I'm scared!
Guy: Dude! Do you hear me? Firemen are on their way! Hang On!
Bilo: Oh! No problem, No hurry... I've found an open WiFi

I've never actually met anybody like the open source coder in this comic strip. I know people who contribute to open source projects as a hobby, as part of a project for university, or simply to expand their resume and make themselves more employable.

I have a paid job in programming after having coded open source software in my spare time. It cost me nothing to gain the skills that landed me my job. I didn't pay for any expensive proprietary IDEs or servers. I didn't pay any corporations for "certifications" in their proprietary technologies.

But I certainly never used to sit around like a hippy promising an open source revolution and railing against "the man". I just think that anybody who believes there's no money to be had in open source (which seems, unfortunately, to include the author of this comic strip) is an idiot.

In conclusion, this comic isn't funny because it caricatures something that isn't even real.

I think the strip is funny because it caricatures something that probably isn't even real. It's saying that for all the "Death to Micro$oft!" people out there on the Internet... what if they were like this in real life, too? How would an average conversation with them go?

And there are some people out there along these lines - go watch Revolution OS, the Linux documentary. Richard Stallman is along these lines (no, he's not as bad as the person in this strip). He's very much a "software hippy" in every sense of the word. He's also a very valuable contributor to the open source movement and apparently actually good to work with.

Well, I liked it... and as an avid webcomic reader, I know it will probably get better each time. So keep working, George, some of us DO have a sense of humour :P

And for those who argue that the comic is based on something than isn`t real, look at it this way: when you tell a joke, you start telling it by saying "Ok, this may not be 100% true, I haven't checked it myself, but I've been told that once a horse went into a bar..."?

Alex, this is getting pathetic. "Off topic?" Say what you mean. "Off message."

The topic of this site is pissing time away instead of actually working on our day jobs, which incidentally is what pays your bills. Or do you make money when I just read the article free of ads in my newsreader, and don't come to comment? You're not deleting messages because they are "off topic", which they are not. You're deleting messages because they are harmful to your commercial interest. But deleting them won't make the problem go away. Go ahead: keep it up and see how well that works for you.

#1 - don't worry about the artwork. It'll improve with practice. Go look at almost every webcomic in existence that's been around awhile and compare the first strips with the latest ones, and you'll see huge improvements.

#2 - keep writing the jokes you think are funny. Some people will get it, others won't, and some will flame you. Writing jokes is like artwork, the more you write, the better they'll get.

#3 - ignore the trolls. Hard to do, I know. But my personal theory is that if you want to be 100% PC and never risk offending anyone, the first thing you have to do is absolutely eradicate your sense of humor. There is almost no humor that isn't potentially offensive to someone, somewhere, somewhen.

I've got to admit I cringed a little at the first comic, but this one rocks! Ignore the whiners who are upset that their t-shirts have just been rendered wtf material and keep at it. Comics are an art not a science, so it takes time to get into and maintain a consistent groove. You're heading in the right direction.

P.S. For all you shmucks complaining about the drawing - go chastise the creator(s) of xkcd.

I hate to seem like I'm whining or trolling; I didn't care when the site changed its name or back again and I don't think there's really ever been a decline in quality. I like pretty much all the articles and a lot of the comments too. This webcomic is just unfunny though. I may be biased because I don't like most webcomics but although the art is decent the jokes are just really quite lame. This one is a joke that's used so often that it's lost most of its humor, not because it's offensive. I'm not trying to tell you how to run your website or anything and I don't care if you continue I just felt I may as well comment.

I got the joke, and the T-shirt was great. You should have some little nugget about Duke Nukem Forever too!

I like how you are comparing two people starting out after college with two different approaches to the situation. Obviously this is a comic, so stretching and bending reality a bit lends more to the humor. It also paints a real picture. It's harder, IMO, to get established in the open source culture. You have to gain some sort of respect first, whereas it might be easier to get that first bit of experience through a private company. If you can get that first bit of experience working on open source for a company, then great!

And its ignorant comics like this that give the open source community a bad name in the eyes of the corporate world for no reason other then this person feels that only people who write code to make money off their code are professional and stand to make any money in the industry...

Exactly how many in the "corporate world" get their opinions of FOSS from web comics?

Ignore the morons here whining about a new feature they didn't pay for.

Here, let me explain the joke to those of you who failed basic reading comprehension:

He's poking fun at people who reject getting paid for doing software development and exclaim that it's immoral to work on anything but Linux and open-source software. I've met these people, they exist, and they deserve to be made fun of.

The strip was not making fun of open-source professionals or open-source software. Learn to read.